Michael Perry

They say that hope dies last. This is perhaps a statement that author, truck enthusiast, and optimist Michael Perry would agree with. In Truck: A Love Story, a follow-up to his small-town memoir, Population: 485, Perry tells a true tale of coming of age late in life, resurrecting an "eyesore" of a vehicle (a 1950s International Harvester truck), finding love after a series of failures, surviving bad '70s hair, and other quirky observations about the bachelor life, NPR, and even postmodern gender associations. Though sometimes things just don't work out as planned, or seem to be not going at all, Perry injects a sense of optimism along the way. He states of his failed gardening attempts: "My garden gives me inner peace and salad, but it also yields cat turds and wilt. Still, my desire doesn't die. Every year, I want to plant again." There's still hope.
Wed., Oct. 3, 2 p.m., 2007